


Cold pt. 2

by NightCityFiction



Series: Cold (River Ward/V) [2]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Light Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:09:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28821255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightCityFiction/pseuds/NightCityFiction
Summary: To blow off some steam V returns to the Afterlife to visit Claire. There she runs into an unsavory character and learns more about what River’s been up to since she was gone.
Relationships: Female V/River Ward, V/River Ward
Series: Cold (River Ward/V) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109774
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	Cold pt. 2

(Later in the Afterlife)

I decided to pay Claire a visit at the Afterlife to let her know I was alive and was going to keep on living for who knows how long. I walked in and grabbed a stool at the bar. Claire did a double take when she saw me. 

“Holy shit V? In the flesh?” Claire said gobsmacked.

“No I’m a ghost that’s come to haunt you Claire.” I said laughing.

“Oh no I thought I would be haunted by someone cool.”

“Shut up! Yeah I got some life saving procedure done on my neural port. I get these super nasty headaches from it sometimes but it beats you know dying. I’ll take my usual.”

“A Cenzon neat coming right up. You know only you would wear a 15,000 eddie dress with combat boots and fishnets.”

“You know me, I’m the master of class.” 

She just laughed making the drink effortlessly then passing it off to me. I scanned the room as I sipped my drink. I didn’t recognize any of the faces there besides Rogue sitting in her usual booth. She’s busy talking to another bright-eyed recently well-known merc. 

“The hair is new. Did you recently dye it?” Claire asked, startling me out of my trance.

“Nah it’s all natural. Well, partial growth serum, I do not look good with a pixie.” I joked.

“That’s true.”

“Oh my god are you just full of zingers tonight?”

“Maybe! Or maybe I’m just happy I got my favorite regular and friend back.”

Just then some gonk approaches me. He’s mildly charming, maybe I’ll have some fun while I’m here. I put on the works. I give him my best interested but aloof look and casually sipping my drink while I hear about how he valiantly raided a scav haunt all by his wittle self. Please dude nothing can top raiding Arasaka and I don’t know getting an engram of a legend ripped from your head.

“You know who this is right” Rogue’s voice says from behind me, “she’s the bitch that raided one of the most powerful corporations in the world. Now get lost you’re not going to impress her.”

He shot her the nastiest look and walked away but never fully leaving my line of sight, eyes still glued on me. Now I felt less like a challenge and more like a prize show dog on display.

“Come on Rogue I almost had him” I whined.

“Gonks like that aren’t fun. You need someone who will excite you.”

“Yeah absolutely no one can impress me anymore.”

“What about him?”

Guess who just walked in, River fucking Ward. He was wearing a button up and slacks. Compared to earlier he fit the bill of a rogue PI. He looked so stupidly perfect. God and I just wanted a peaceful night. He obviously doesn’t want me anymore.

“Strange he usually comes in with a piece of arm candy every week.” Claire scoffed walking away.”

“She’s right he’s usually with some hopeless girl thinking she has a chance,” Rogue remarks, “He solved an awful homicide case single-handedly. Corpo husband didn’t trust NCPD. Whole family was murdered brutally and Ward was already a well known PI in such a short amount of time. He’s solved cases at record speed. Turns out it was the corps secretary who he was having an affair with. It was all over the news with Ward's face plastered as a hero. Got a lot of money from it too but still just lives in that little trailer. When he’s not solving the most heinous cases he’s knee deep in women and liquor. I almost feel bad for him. Almost.”

“Yeah me too,” I mumbled as a pang of sadness hit my heart.

“Alright I gotta go but think about it. He’d be more your speed.”

“Sure”

It wasn’t long before he was swarmed by people. He plastered on a smile, but it was hollow. In the light he looked older even though it had been such a short time I was actually gone. The stress looks like it’s weighing on him. His eyes looked empty. He was empty. A job like that has to be hard on him. Especially cases like the corp family’s. What deep shit has he gotten himself into?

“Hey V! Earth to V!” Claire shouted, waving her hand in front of my face, “You could kill someone with those daggers.”

“Shit sorry, I’ll take another.”

I just keep my drink in my vision. One more and then I’ll go home I think. Then the guy who was flirting with me comes back and I try to shrug him off. I’m definitely not in the mood now. He keeps talking to me, calling me baby, telling me not to listen to that old bat. I get more aggressive telling him to leave me alone. Claire comes over and starts telling the guy it’s time to go home. Then it grabbed his eye. I watched him out of my peripheral, him standing up, trying to save the damsel in distress. I whisper Claire a sorry, pull a knife out of the garter out of the slit in my dress, and discreetly hold it up to his midsection.

“Call me baby one more time and you’re going to lose that tongue and those hands.” I threatened with a smile.

“God fine, prude.” He said storming away.

Everyone at the bar seemed uninterested except River. His eyes were just glued on me. I thanked Claire, transferred her the eddies and left. Not before I slammed my drink down though. His eyes followed me as I walked out the door. I could hear a crass comments from one of his buds. Something along the line of that broad slice me open any day of the week. What happened to him? He’s not the River I knew anymore. At the very most the River I knew is buried deep under apathy. He thought he wouldn’t get wrapped up in that.

Suddenly I get a message from him asking me if I was okay. I hesitate trying to think of something snappy but I just leave it on read. I lean against a wall and scroll through our past messages. I look through all of the I miss you’s. The pictures of random dinners and recipes. The sexy pictures we sent back and forth before I got really sick. I think about deleting his contact. I always do. I somehow think it’ll be better for me than keeping everything. A tear breaks through and I quickly wipe it away. Not here, not now I think.

The holo rings and I answer it. It’s Claire and she asks if everything’s alright.

“Do you need a ride back to where you’re staying? I can call you a cab.” She says, the worry dripping from her voice.

“No I have my Gecko. I’m just staying at my old apartment. My landlord owed me a favor so he let me rent it out for a year.” I say my voice cracking.

“Okay just please let me know when you get home.”

“Of course.”

I hang up and call my car, heading back to the apartment in silence.

\------

My blue lit apartment welcomes me home. The walls ooze with gray memories though have now been left mostly bare. The plan was to move in after River and I rekindled our old flame and I would grab my stuff from camp and come back here. Guess that’s all gone to shit though.

I wished I still had a kitchen instead of a burrito machine so I could make myself a proper dinner. Greasy take out from Tom’s Diner still sounds good. I order a burger and fries and plan to have it delivered to my apartment.

I make my way into the bathroom and walk into the shower, letting the hot water rinse over me. My thoughts wander to him. His smile, his hands, his body, the way he touched me. He used to pull me in by my hips, always making me tell him that I need him, begging before he takes me. His face was so warm and hungry. 

I try to shake myself out of it and sink down to the floor, changing the water's temperature to ice cold. I pull my knees in close to my chest. My tears feel like lava running down my cheeks and it feels like there’s 1000 knives in my body all stabbing in different directions. Peeling myself up off the floor, I make my way out to the bed and open my bag. I pull out Ev’s cigarette case, open the window, and light one up. Then something pokes out of the bag catches my eye. It was a huge black sweatshirt and a tank top. The ‘Fuck The Police’ tank and his sweatshirt he gave me the first time he came over here. I slowly grab both out and put them on. The saddest part is I’ve worn them so much they don’t even smell like him anymore.

Another message appears asking me if I got home safe from Claire. I respond and apologize that I didn’t get to it sooner.

“No worries. Someone just keeps pestering me about it.” she responded.

An involuntary sigh escapes my lips and tears start flowing. I snuff out the cig and toss my bag out of the way. I fall onto the bed and start sobbing.


End file.
